May 2, 2011
Sign above the Men’s urninal: “Please urinate in pool.”
Right.
As if they need any encouragement.
Sociologists and psychologists always talk about group dynamics/mob rule, etc. A group will develop its own personality quite apart from the individuals within the group. We seem to be a textbook case in point. I really felt differently about our last two days than I have about the rest of the trip. Although there were individual things I thoroughly enjoyed, there was just a different feeling about our time on plan B and plan C. I talked to Carol about it, and Saci and I gave each other a look that said, “What’s this all about.?” The people were more unfriendly, conditions seemed tense, and there was just a flavor in the air that didn’t fit into the category of “Friendly China.” Upon returning this afternoon to Lanzhou we immediately felt the difference. Amiable John who never says anything bad about anything and enjoys all aspects of trip talked about it at dinner, and it was exactly the same things Carol and I were saying to ourselves.
We’re back in Lanzhou where we all bitched about the pollution and dust before we left, and you’d think it was our long-lost homeland. The dust storm had subsided and the city looked pretty good to us. We all wished we had another night in our killer hotel with the great beds. We decided that Linxia and Xining, being close to Tibet creates that tension. It’s not Tibet, you need a special visa to enter as we did on our trek some years back, but police presence was certainly more noticeable and everybody seemed on edge. We were still greeted with grins from the little kids and young people, but with suspicion from many of the older ones. The curiosity factor was still in place, but the level of warmth behind it was missing. Back here in Lanzhou the curiosity factor is here, but warmly done so.
We’re spent two days in the land of the motorcycle pick-up. They look like a standard bike up to the seat which is a large bicycle type. Welded to the back frame is metal tubing which serves as sidewalls fixed on to two rear wheels, making it a tricycle in effect. The “Pick-up bed” in which they can carry their goods, people, and whatever else needs transporting is the real meat of the vehicle. They’re convenient, less expensive, more mobile than other forms of commercial transport. Watching from my window this morning, I saw six of them in a row. The man always drives, as it should be, the woman sits dutifully in the back, and the kids are kids, moving about and being scolded for doing so. Vegetables were in one, chickens in another, unidentifiable, from the 8th floor, boxes in others.
Minh, being Vietnamese continues to be hassled for interfering with the group. When we were boarding our train in Beijing, he and I were at the back of the group with Minh directly in front of me. As the main pack moved through the gate there were no problems. The guard watched everyone pass, but when Minh tried to get through, he was unceremoniously stopped and refused entry. I had to convince the guard that he was part of us. At other times he has been denied seating at our table since why would a five foot Vietnamese be traveling with this bunch of gringos. This sort of thing has happened often. His, is an interesting story. His father was a pilot with the South Vietnamese Air Force, flying helicopters. When Saigon fell in 1975 and the flood of people who had worked with the Americans had to flee, his sister was able to because she had a magazine cover which showed her father, his helicopter and American officials. She now resides in Silicon Valley. Minh was denied exit visas because he didn’t have that documentation. His father went to a “Re-education” center for seven years. Minh and his family were finally able to go to Australia where he became a dentist.
We went to a Buddhist monastery today, Kumdum, which is famous here in Asia. It was May 1st, a national holiday, and everybody was out. Since is close to Tibet there were many Tibetans there in their traditional garb, many doing the full prostration bit. Hands clasped above the head, kneeling down, then stretching out in full length prostrate on the ground with hands slid forward until they are fully stretched out. They then get up by coming back to their knees and finally standing. This process puts them about two feet further forward than they were before they lay down. We saw them doing this in Tibet, some coming literally a hundred miles as a pilgrimage to Lhasa. When night time falls, they place a rock where they left off and the following morning this is where they would start off. Kicking the rock ahead is really bad karma.
Contrast that with the boppy teens and post teens in their spike heels, black leotards, frilly white tutu skirt and the floppy wide-brimmed hat and over-sized pink sunglasses topping off the scene. They would run up to a monk, stand in front of him posing with their hands stretched out in “V” for victory signals. It reminded me of visiting Native American reservations as a kid and people wanting their photos taken with the “Indians.” I keep getting a lot of attention from my beard. Saci says that everybody thinks I’m Colonel Sanders, since KFC is popular here. I tell him it’s a “Chick Magnet,” and he’s gotta get one for himself. Those aforementioned teenies did the whole photo op scene with me, then added Carol, then any other members of our group who were in close proximity. I can only imagine what they say to their friends when showing them the photos later on.
Actually I don't really want to know.
